


All You Sinners Stand Up

by StrikinglyStrange



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-09-30 21:49:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17231810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrikinglyStrange/pseuds/StrikinglyStrange
Summary: When Tony meets Bruce's new friend Stephen Strange, his world is turned upside. Tony discovers Stephen's accident and works towards trying to develop something to stabilize his hands. All the while, Stephen is baffled over the attention and time Tony's giving him. Wong, knowing this, works to bring the two together, against Bruce's wishes.





	1. Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers aka Bruce Can't Have Nice Things

**Author's Note:**

> ~No one wants you when you have no heart, Tony.~

Scene: Tony and Bruce’s Laboratory at the Avengers Compound 

“How did you come to that breakthrough? The Strange-Palmer Technique?” Bruce Banner says, reading some papers off of the holographic display.

Doctor Strange smirks. “Well, it was really mostly my idea, but-”

A light whistle makes its way up the hallway and comes to an abrupt stop as Tony locks eyes with Strange and then Bruce. He looks back and forth for a few minutes until he finally cocks his head. “And who’s this, Banner?”

Bruce furrows his brow and takes a few moments before he answers. “This is Doctor Stephen Strange. He’s a former neurosurgeon and current Sorcerer Supreme.”

“And Master of the Mystic Arts,” Stephen chimes in.

“A.. wizard? A wizard?” Tony chuckles. “Like Harry freaking Potter? No way!” He steps into the room and moves very close to Strange.

Strange pulls his body away from Tony.

Bruce’s jaw tightens. “Tony… Doctor Strange and I are working on some research, so if you wouldn’t mind-”

“Oh, don’t stop on account of me,” Tony smiles widely as he turns from Banner to Strange. “Hmmm,” Tony leans in close to Stephen’s face. “Is that beard real?”

“Of-of course it’s real,” Stephen says, taken by surprise. “Why would you question if-”

“Well, maybe you used your magic to grow it,” Tony chuckled. “Maybe you can’t even grow any facial hair. You don’t look like the type.”

“What does that even mean?” Strange asks, aggravation starting to tint his voice. 

Tony sticks his tongue out at Strange. As he’s doing so, Pepper appears in the doorway.

“Sorry to interrupt, but, Scott’s just arrived and he said nobody turned up for his… induction into the Avengers,” she turns her disappointed eyes to Tony.

Tony rocks on the balls of his feet, hands shoved down into his pockets and begins whistling again.

Pepper’s ears turn red and she’s getting ready to unleash a speech on Tony when Bruce caves. He gently takes Pepper’s hand and he leads her out of the room. “I’ll take care of it,” Bruce says as he gives Tony his best stink eye.

Strange sighs, and then sits down at one of the stools behind the lab table.

Tony plops down onto the couch against the far wall and pulls out his phone.

Strange tinkers with some ancient, rusty looking device. He cusses quietly under his breath every now and again.

Tony looks up from reading an article on space travel (they’re still trying to figure out a way to get to Asgard to see Thor) and notices Strange’s shaky hands. “Need something to eat buddy?”

Strange’s whole body tenses up and he drops the relic. His hands go as still as he can possibly make them.

This piques Tony’s interest. He tosses his phone to the other end of the couch and gets up. “What? Wizards don’t eat? Can you just perform some sort of magic spell to keep you from getting hungry? WAIT. I know! You’re a wizard AND a vampire!”

“...Are you done?” Strange says, very darkly.

Tony winces for a second and then walks over to Stephen and plops himself up on the table next to him.

“Nope, not even close. I bet you can conjure magic food but maybe your magic isn’t good enough to get it through the security of the compound.” 

Stephen rolls his eyes and then takes off his gloves. One by one he places the gloves on the opposite side of the counter of where Tony’s sitting.

For a moment Tony doesn’t understand. Then, he leans downwards and sees the scars.

Strange hears Tony gasp as he carefully grabs his left hand. Strange panics. He hasn’t let anyone touch his hands since the surgery. Not even Christine.

“How long ago was the surgery?” Tony asks quietly, still holding Strange’s hand.

Stephen yanks his hand back and stands up. He puts his gloves back on and turns his back to Tony. “For one of the smartest people on this planet, you sure don’t know much about the people around you.”

“Sorry, sometimes I’m busy with this little saving the world gig,” he quips.

“This..these,” Strange holds his hands up to his face, “is old news.”

“I can help you, you know,” Tony strolls over to Strange.

The Cloak of Levitation senses Strange’s uncomfortableness and smacks Tony’s arm.

Tony jumps backward. “AND A MAGIC CAPE! OH COME ON!”

“It’s a cloak,” Stephen says as he steps through a portal to the Sanctum.

Bruce returns, minus one angry Pepper, and looks frantically around the room. “Where’s Doctor Strange?”

Tony doesn’t say anything. He’s too busy trying to figure out the scenery in the portal. 

“Tony,” Bruce scolds.

“Say,” Tony turns to Bruce. 

“Uh oh,” Bruce responds.

“Where does Dumbledore live?” 

“Nu-uh, no way,” Bruce says shaking his head as Tony walks up to him. “I’m not telling you. Under no circumstances are you to keep playing games with him, Tony.” Bruce’s face sinks. “The guy’s been through a lot.”

“So have I,” Tony says, as he nonchalantly bumps into Bruce’s shoulder while leaving the lab.


	2. Peter Parker Picked a Pepper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter Parker sounded better than Peter Piper. Unfortunately, Peter isn't actually in this chapter. So, just picture Wong in the Iron-Spider suit. And he's swinging through the back alleys of Stephen's dried up heart. And he's pulling those web strings right to Tony.

Stephen is sat in the courtyard of Kamar-Taj, meditating. He’s floating a little ways above the ground, and he’s lost in deep thought.

“Strange, he’s at the door and I couldn’t stop him from coming in,” Wong says, as Stephen hears his footsteps approaching.

“Who?” Stephen tenses up but remains floating.

“Who do you think?” Wong sighs.

Stephen furrows his brow but continues to hold his eyes closed. 

“Hey, Gandalf!” Tony yells as he crosses the courtyard.

Stephen’s cloak catches him from falling, and he rebalances himself mid-air; “What are you doing here Stark?”

“I got your address out of Bruce,” he boasts.

“Wong…” Stephen turns his head towards Wong’s direction, eyes still closed. “How did he get through the portal and into Kamar-Taj?”

“He followed me into the hall of doors. I couldn’t stop him,” Wong shrugs before stepping off to the side to give the two their space.

“What can I help you with, Stark?” Stephen asks angrily.

“These,” Tony says as he opens up Stephen’s palms and places a pair of black fingerless gloves down.

Stephen opens his eyes and suspiciously inspects the gloves.

As soon as he slips them on they mold to his hands and Stephen lets out a gasp.

Tony looks back to Wong, who’s doing poorly at pretending not to watch. He smirks and turns back to Stephen. “I’ve spent the last 72 hours in the lab making these prototypes. I wanted to see how they reacted to your nerves. Anything too firm and they could collapse under the pressure. Anything too loose, and well, they wouldn’t serve much of a purpose,” he shrugs.

Stephen turns his hands over, and back again. He looks up to Wong, and then turns and takes off through the courtyard and into the living quarters.

Tony jogs after him and stops just short of the doorframe to Stephen’s room.

Stephen’s huddled in a corner, next to a nightstand that has an operating kit on it. He’s holding a surgical blade against a model of a brain. From the distance Tony’s standing, he can’t see any shaking in his hands.

Stephen scrunches his face up and gently bites his lip as he attempts to make a cut on the brain.

The cut nearly comes out perfect, until the slight shaking causes a jerking motion at the end.

“It’s almost a straight line. This is the closet my hands have been to normal in months.”

“With adjustments, we can get the nerve damage down to almost unnoticeable,” Tony finally steps into the room. “I’ll get with Bruce this time. He didn’t want to help me at first. He thought it would offend you. I told him he was being too sensitive, but honestly, he’s just always nervous. Either way, I’m going to be able to do this.”

Stephen pulls the gloves off and holds them out to Tony.

“It’s… not offense. It’s just not what I expected from you.”

“Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange. Neurosurgeon extraordinaire. Pioneering the field with the Strange-Palmer Technique. Hand-Selecting cases to push the boundaries of what modern surgery can do for the human brain. Then, one day, your luxury car is found halfway in a body of water. Front glass all smashed out, hands destroyed. Unconscious.”

Stephen feels his chest tighten and suddenly he feels as though he can’t breathe.

“Then, you wake up in the hospital in denial. And you spend every last dime researching techniques. You turn to the Black Market but even there nobody can help you. Now the tables have turned and your surgeon friends are hand-selecting cases. Only this time, you didn’t get picked. And, somehow you end up on the streets of Tibet, begging to be let into a cult.”

“It isn’t a cult-” Stephen whispers.

“Fast forward, less than two months later and you’re the acting leader of said cult. And you’ve got powers that would give Voldemort a run for his money.”

“Congratulations, you know how to use Google,” Stephens says dryly as he slow claps.

“I know how to care, about the important things,” Tony takes the gloves from his hand.

Stephen quickly pulls his mustard yellow gloves out of the top drawer of his dresser and covers his now naked feeling hands.

“This must have cost millions in research,” Stephen states.

“And what about it?” Tony flashes a smile before making his way out of his room.

A few moments later Wong appears in the doorway. “He crossed the portal back to the Sanctum, Strange.”

“I’m not sure what just happened.”

“He’s not the Tony Stark the media paints him to be. It’s a shock, isn’t it?”

“What kind of a playboy spends a weekend in the same white tank top and black sweats?”

“The same kind who almost died to stop Loki’s attack on New York.”

Stephen, dumbfounded, says nothing.

“You need to go back to the Avengers Compound,” Wong pushes.

“I was supposed to meet Dr. Banner again…”

“Good, then you already have an excuse!”

“What are you trying to do?”

“Strange, this is the first person you’ve opened yourself up to since the Ancient One.”

“People closed themselves off to me when they saw that I was different. Nobody has time for disabilities in today’s society,” Stephen says darkly.

“Stark didn’t.”

“Stark’s not doing it for me. He’s doing it for his company. He could make a fortune off of correcting nerve damage of this scale.”

“I bet you he doesn’t charge a dime.”

“How much?” Stephen raises a brow.

“$20,” Wong says, with his best poker face.

“Watch out, we’ve got a new billionaire over here,” Stephen says, trying (and failing) to hold back his laughter.

“But, seriously Strange, give him a chance.”

“Doesn’t he normally have a girl on each arm?” Stephen’s mood bottoms out.

“And when’s the last time you saw him plastered like that in the tabloids?”

“There’s a woman named Pepper…”

“It’s always excuses with you, Strange,” Wong says, making his exit back to the Sanctum.

“Where are you going?” Stephen calls to him.

“To find out who this Pepper is!” Wong calls back as he steps through the portal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wong who? Call him Bond. Wong Bond. He's a secret agent going undercover in the name of love. Picture him like Noir Spider-Man, but with a monocle.


	3. The Eye of Agamotto has got to Go-Go

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, Bruce is minding his business (LIKE ALWAYS) and Wong comes busting in with his pipe and his 1920s trench coat and demands to be told about Pepper. Well, he doesn't actually demand it from Bruce, but from Google. Aka, Bruce spends his day showing a sorcerer how to use Google... instead of doing anything actually productive.

Bruce is tinkering with a new Iron-Man suit, Mark… oh, he can't even remember at this point.

He’s got a screwdriver in the shoulder socket and he’s trying to disassemble the arm to make some adjustments.

He’s got bags under his eyes and there’s a steaming hot cup of coffee on the table, not too far behind him.

After a few tries, he adjusts his glasses to sit perfectly on his nose and-

A gust of wind hits him from behind and he teeters on the balls of his feet.

The screwdriver loosens from his grip, and hits the ground, bouncing a few times before landing in front of his feet.

“Damnit Tony, I’ve told you a thousand times to stop using your thrusters in the-”

Bruce turns around to be greeted by Wong.

“Can I borrow a computer?” Wong waves, once.

“Uh,” Bruce attempts to regain his composure. “Sure, of course.” He smooths out his shirt and leads Wong over to one of the 4 desktops.

Wong sits down and stares at the screen for a while.

“Did you need any help?” Bruce asks, hesitantly.

“Could you pull up Google for me?” Wong replies.

“Uh… yeah, sure.” Bruce opens up Google Chrome and then steps out of the way.

Wong looks at the search bar and then down at the keyboard. He slowly types, “Pepper.”

Bruce looks from one side of the lab to the other, and then back at the computer screen.

Wong grumbles when a picture of grounded black pepper shows up.

“Are you… using a Stark Industries computer to look up cooking recipes?” Bruce cocks his head.

“Of course not!” Wong snaps. “I’m trying to research Pepper the woman.”

“Pepper? Like Tony’s Pepper? Pepper Potts?”

“Ah! So that’s her last name.” He amends his Google search to, “Pepper Potts,” and some pictures pop up, including an article about her being active CEO of Stark Industries. 

“She owns the company?” Wong asks.

“Ha,” Bruce chuckles. “No, she runs the company. Tony owns everything. He just got tired of the meetings,” Bruce sighs. “He wanted to put the Avengers and the safety of the Earth above everything else.”

“Are they in a relationship?” Wong asks frankly, standing up from the chair and next to Bruce.

“Tony and Pepper?” Bruce itches his head. “They tried it. They even got engaged in front of a bunch of press. Tony was excited and Pepper was… shocked.”

“What happened to them?”

“Everything,” Bruce says, so quietly that Wong had to strain his ears to hear him.  
____________

Stephen’s meditating again. Floating higher off of the ground than last time. His cloak flowing underneath him, supporting him, even though he doesn’t need it.

He’s taking deep, relaxing breaths and thinking of his past. Of Christine. Of the hospital. Of being on top of his game. His world.

And then a portal opens, and he prays it isn’t Tony because he isn’t ready to face him. Not yet. His emotions are spiraling out of control and he feels raw. Scared. He contemplates, just for a second, using the time stone to prevent the two of them from meeting.

Even if Tony was able to get Stephen’s hands back to one-hundred percent he wouldn’t be able to return to his old life. Maybe if this gift had come to him before the Ancient One passed away. 

Before he felt both a powerful sense of guilt and duty to the Order.

Before he finally learned the painful lesson of letting go.

That no matter what happens, he can’t use the time stone how he pleases.

Even if it is to keep two of the most egotistical superheroes in the world from each other.  
_________

And then Wong shows up.

“Strange! I found out about Pepper!”

Stephen instantly looks towards Wong.

“It’s okay, she’s just his ex-fiancee.”

Stephen chokes on the air and crashes into the ground. The cloak flops its flaps against the ground, indicating that it’s being crushed.

“Just?” Stephen rolls his eyes. “Just? Wong. Really?”

“You faced harder challenges, suck it up.”

“You don’t seem to understand,” Stephen says, getting up and dusting the cloak off. “This wasn’t a ‘challenge’ that I was trying to pursue.”

“You always run from what you’re afraid of. How about running towards it, for once?”

“And did I run from Dormammu?” Stephen stomps over to Wong and towers over him.

“No, but you did try to run from the order. From duty and responsibility. It took our leader’s death to make you finally realize just how flawed you were. You still are… sometimes. Still flawed.”

“Wong-”

“All of that meditation and your mind is still not at rest. Don’t you want to try giving a chance to something that might actually help you?” Wong pleads.

Stephen licks his lips, then looks down at the floor. 

“You can pretend to be fine and powerful and in control all that you want, Stephen. But it’s not going to change anything. And you’re a fool if you think that I believe that you’re okay.”

“I don’t have to fool you,” Stephen says, making his hands into loose fists. “I just have to fool everyone else.”

“You may fool Dr. Banner just because he doesn’t want to meddle, but you know very well that you don’t fool Stark.”

Stephen looks from Wong and then down to the Eye of Agamotto.

“Strange, don’t.” Wong straightens up his stance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, what kind of damage could going back in time REALLY do? Right? So Stephen plays around with the space-time continuum a little bit. Who would know anyways? Unless he accidentally pulls somebody back in time with him. Now wouldn't that be quiet the fun adventure?

**Author's Note:**

> ~Say your prayers, Stephen.~


End file.
